Fury Ball
by Spartan-Guy 88
Summary: Po comes up with a game that he and the Furious Five can use to improve their Kung Fu. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I would just like to say that this is my first Kung Fu Panda story. I bought the movie about a week ago (as of March 23****rd****), and since then, my mind was racing with ideas for stories. The idea for this story actually came to me when me and my two brothers, along with some of their friends, went to a local gym and played basketball. While we were playing, it hit me; "Holy crap, something like this would make a great story for KFP!" Once I got home, I immediately grabbed a pen and paper and started to write an outline for the story you're about to see. Like I said earlier, this is my first KFP story, so please let me know if I get any parts wrong. Enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KUNG FU PANDA IN ANY WAY**

_**FURY BALL**_

_**By Spartanguy88**_

**Chapter One**

"Tigress, I know what you're thinking about doing; and it's not going to work."

"Oh yeah right Crane. Like you can just suddenly predict my actions."

The tiger and the bird looked at each other with pure determination in their eyes. They each had a smug look on their faces on them as well. The fight between these two adversaries has been raging for almost two and a half hours; and up to this point, Tigress nor Crane had an advantage over the other.

"As a matter of fact," Crane said responding to her most recent statement, " yes I can in this case. To tell you the truth, I'm giving you a chance to give up right now." Tigress looked at  
Crane with some confusion replacing determination in her eyes; "Excuse me? But what in the world would make you think I would just give it up now when I'm on the verge of winning?"

Crane stood his ground, unfazed at her bold declaration. "Listen, I'm giving you a choice. You can either agree to a draw, or just keep going and face total humiliation. So, what's it going to be?"

Standing not too far from Crane and Tigress were three other figures. One was a small green preying mantis; standing next to him was a golden-furred primate; and standing next to him was a light green snake. For everyone who knew them, it was easy to remember their names; for they were known as: Mantis, Monkey, and Viper. And right now, they each had a mix of nervousness and anticipation in their eyes.

"The suspense is killing me!" Mantis said loud enough only for his two fellow spectators to hear.

"I know," Monkey said, "I'm not sure how this is going to end either one of them."

Viper couldn't take it anymore, and she yelled out, "Tigress, don't do it! It's too risky! You're gonna-!"

Tigress held her hand up towards the snake and told her, "Viper, I appreciate your concern, but I'm pretty sure I can handle this winged rodent." She then gazed back towards the avian, looking even more resolute than several seconds ago. "Now then, let's see how you can handle this!"

**FIVE SECONDS LATER…**

"No! Why did she have to do it!" Viper cried; this time for only Mantis and Monkey to hear. Monkey simply continued to observe; while Mantis replied, "Yeah, now she's really in for it…" Crane had witnessed the move Tigress had boasted about, and simply gave a small chuckle, much to her surprise.

"Hey, what's so funny bird-brain? Oh wait, let me guess…" Tigress mocked, "…you've gotten to the point where you're so clueless on what to do, you're laughing at even your own downfall. Is that it?"

Crane glanced at her with a knowing look, and replied, "That's not exactly the way I would put it." He then raised one of his talons and said before making his move, "Can you do me one small favor, my friend?"

"And what would that be?" Tigress asked in return.

Mantis, Monkey, and Viper leaned in; eager to see what would happen next…

Crane placed his foot on a small, red, and round piece of wood, and made it hop over six black pieces. He immediately looked at Tigress and proclaimed, "King. Me."

Tigress' eyes bolted with sudden surprise. Her jaw slowly fell agape. She couldn't believe what he has done. The spectators' gasped at what just occurred.

Crane had just beaten Tigress in a heated and prolonged checkers match.

"Wait, how did- I mean- what did you just- did you have that planned from the very st-!" Tigress stuttered her next few words before giving off a huge sigh and lowered her head in defeat while whispering to herself, "Dammit." Mantis, unable to control the urge not to, burst into laughter. After about ten seconds of laughing, he finally said, "You should've seen the look on your face! It was priceless!" Tigress glared evilly over at the insect and said, "Don't push your luck Mantis…"

Both Viper and Monkey gave a big sigh of relief, both glad the whole ordeal was over. Monkey then smugly looked over at Viper, held out his palm and said, "Pay up Viper. We had a bet…" Viper groaned and handed over, with her tail, a small pouch filled with almond cookies. At that moment, they were all sitting around the table placed in the kitchen of the Jade Palace, the home of the Furious Five. Recently, these five individuals, known widely as "The Furious Five," have gotten into playing checkers against each other; not just because it's a fun and challenging game, but their master, Master Shifu, strongly encouraged them to make it a once-in-a-while, if not daily, basis. In Master Shifu's opinion, he believed that checkers can help one improve on how to strategize against an opponent. There were times though, much like the recently concluded match, that it can get too competitive; even for those watching.

Finally, Tigress looked back towards Crane, who had a "I told you so" look on his face. She clenched her fists together, released them and said, "Wait 'till next time Crane. I'll be prepared the next time we meet face to face."

Crane simply rolled his eyes and started to put all of the pieces into a small bag. Mantis' laughing had finally died down, and it seemed everything would return to normality. Viper then looked around her, feeling as though something was off. She then turned back to everyone else and asked, "Hey, has anyone seen Po recently? You'd think he would've come to watch by now."

Po was a large, often clumsy, but incredibly kind-hearted panda about the same height as Tigress and Crane. He is the most recent addition to the Jade Palace. It was now five months since he personally met the Furious Five and Master Shifu; five months since he embraced his destiny as the Dragon Warrior, and defeated a cold, ruthless snow leopard, whom was known as Tai Lung, with the dreaded Wu Xi Finger Hold; a hold so devastating that even Tigress, the strongest of the Furious Five, came to fear it. Yet despite all that Po has accomplished, he still had much to learn; as he was now practicing from the Thousand Scrolls of Kung Fu.

Mantis looked over at Viper and answered, "Viper, you know how it works for him: We wake up; get in two or three hours of training at the training grounds; then after that he goes down to the Valley to help his dad out at the noodle shop."

Viper replied, "Yeah I know that already, but he usually helps out down there for about three hours, then he comes back to the Jade Palace. It's been **five hours** since he left for the noodle shop." Everyone else then began to ponder about just that. Finally, Crane spoke up, "You know, come to think of it, he seems to be doing that a lot lately. And he's been going over to the nearby wooded area."

Monkey joined in on the "I Wonder What Po is Up To" club meeting. "About a week ago, I saw him writing something on a sheet of paper. When I walked over and asked what he's writing, he tried to hide it from me, saying it was 'nothing for me to worry about.'" When they asked if he saw anything on the sheet of paper, he shook his head. "I couldn't get a good look."

Tigress then spoke up, "I have no clue what that guy is up to this time, but I say that the next time we see him, we start asking questions." Everyone else murmured at this. Viper then stated, "Well, alright then. But I don't think we should cause any kind of alarm on him. We should do it in a calm and peaceful-"

"HEY GUYS!!!!" Po yelled excitedly as he came right into the doorway. The Furious Five jumped and gasped at his sudden arrival. It also caused Crane to drop the bag of game pieces and they scattered all across the floor. They all then groaned with annoyance in their tones.

As Crane bent down to pick up the game pieces, Mantis snapped, "How many times do we tell you not to do that?!" Po stared at them for about two seconds, then sheepishly smiled at them and said, "Oh right; sorry guys. But seriously, you have got to come with me right now!" Just as the panda was about to rush out the door, Tigress stood up.

"Now hold on a second, we need to talk. What have you been doing all this time?" Tigress demanded. Po slowly turned around to see everyone looking at him, waiting for an answer; minus Crane, for he was busy with the game pieces. Po then said, "I've been working on a project this last week. And I can guarantee all of you, it's totally awesome!"

Crane had finished putting the pieces back into the bag; he looked up to Po. "Po, please don't tell me this is another one of your 'inventions.' Do we even have to remind you the last time you tried to make something?"

Po thought about it, then remembered what his last project was…

**TWO WEEKS AGO…**

Mantis and Crane were watching Po pull out from a small box, two large sticks connected by a thick piece of string. "Boys.." Po stated, "Behold the future of Kung Fu weaponry. It still has some work to be done on it, but trust me when I say…" he started to wave one end of it around while holding the other, "…the next bad guy we see is gonna be in for quite a surprise!" It was pure irony that hit him when the part of the strange stick that was waving around hit him right in the "family jewels".

As he gasped and groaned at his unexpected injury, Mantis and Crane burst into semi-hysterical laughter. Tears were literally coming out of their eyes for laughing so hard. Crane fell onto his back laughing all the way. Finally, Mantis managed to squeeze in, "You're right about that. The next bad guy we see is gonna laugh himself to death!"

**TODAY**

Everyone but Po was snickering at the remembrance of Po's experimental weapon test. Po sighed and let off a small and fake chuckle. "Oh yeah, that was quite a riot huh?" After everyone's trip into Hilarious Memory Lane was over, Viper asked, "Now, you were saying about this project you were working on…?"

Po got all excited once again. He said, "Oh right! Come on, it's a lot easier to show you then to explain it. Let's go, come on!" He rushed out the door, leaving a slightly confused group of Kung Fu masters sitting there for a few seconds. Then they all got up and followed suit, while Crane picked up a large straw hat and placed it on his head, wondering as to what Po has to present to them.

**A/N: And there you have it, the first part of my first fan fic that is Kung Fu Panda related. That whole, "Po's experimental weapon scene" was actually inspired by this hilarious Youtube video called "Nun Chuck** **Fail." Look it up and you'll see what I mean. Now please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**A/ N: Updated Version.**

About fifteen minutes have passed since Po's surprising entrance in the Jade Palace kitchen. At that moment, he was leading the Furious Five through a wooded area not too far from the palace. They had originally planned on asking Po just what it was he's been up to in the woods for the past week. Now it seems they were going to get they're answer.

Along the way, Tigress was getting even more annoyed at how long it seemed to take in order to get to their destination. She asked rhetorically, "How much longer is this hike going to take?" Monkey, whom was in front of her, looked back at her and said, "Tigress, we've only been walking for fifteen minutes…"

Mantis, who was perched on Monkey's shoulder as usual, chimed in; "Yeah, you should take a page from a story in my life: Just be patient."

Tigress knew what Mantis meant by that. Several years before they all met each other, Mantis was incredibly impatient; and his impatience once got him captured by a gang of crocodile bandits. Forced to remain in a cage for several days, he finally learned the importance of being patient; thus coming up with a plan that enabled him to trick his captors into opening the cage. He was then able to defeat all of the bandits and continue with his life journey.

Tigress sighed and replied, "I'll keep that in mind;" she then asked to Po, "Seriously though, are we getting close?" Po looked back at the rest of the group and said, "We're just about there. Oh man, you guys are gonna love this!"

Crane whispered to himself, "Then why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this…?" Finally after about two more minutes of walking, Po stopped, causing everyone else to do the same thing. He peered through a small wall of trees, grinned, and turned back towards the masters of Kung Fu. "We're here guys."

Just as the Furious Five were about to walk on ahead, he ran ahead yelling, "Hang on guys, I just wanna be able to see the look on all of your faces when you see this!" Tigress, Mantis, and Monkey rolled their eyes at his comment, Viper and Crane briefly glanced at each other, then back towards the trees. Ten seconds later they heard his voice again, "Okay, come take a look!"

As all five of them came through the tree line, seemingly at unison, they're eyes opened as wide as much as they physically could and their jaws went agape. "What the Hell?!" Tigress whispered quietly to herself.

What they all saw was a large, flat, and open area as long as what people in the 21st Century would call a football field. Spreads in a pattern throughout it were several wooden poles, most likely made from the trunks from trees. At each end of the field were fishing nets, held together by thick tree branches; which in turn looked like they were pieced together with nails. The net to their left had two small red banners tied to each side. The one to their right was pretty much the same thing, except the banners were in a blue color. On top of the tallest pole in the center of the field was a yellow ball about the size of a dinner bowl.

It didn't matter how much physical and mental training they all had to take, none of the Furious Five didn't know how to react to something like this. They all took turns at glancing at each other, with absolute bemusement on their faces; then all at once, they looked at Po. He had an excited face on him, oblivious to what his comrades were going through. "Well, whaddya think?!" He asked eagerly.

For half a minute, no one said a word. Finally, Crane walked up to Po and asked, "Uh… Po. What exactly is this supposed to be?" Po's face perked a little, but he then responded; "Now I know what you're all probably thinking; 'Po, what exactly is this?'" Crane was just about to say that it was exactly what he just asked, but he set it aside; for all he wanted was to hear the panda's story.

"Well, it all started about a week ago…" The Dragon Warrior started…

**ONE WEEK AGO**

_It was another great day in the Valley of Peace. Po had finished his morning training routine with the Furious Five, and was now on his way to his father's noodle shop. His past experience working in a small restaurant made him the Jade Palace's unofficial cook. Everyone at the Jade Palace, including Master Shifu, grew to admire Po's extraordinary culinary skills. _

_In the meantime, things were going fantastic for Po and his life. Five months ago, he defeated Tai Lung and became a new hero for the Valley; along with becoming a Kung Fu master. Now, every time he goes to the village, he very often gets praise from the local villagers. He would hear the occasional, "Mommy look, it's the Dragon Warrior!" or the "Alright Po! Great to see you!"_

_But Po was very happy for his father as well, when word came around that the Dragon Warrior worked at his father's, known as Mr. Ping, restaurant, business sky-rocketed. People, not only from the Valley, but even several neighboring villages, would come to the noodle shop just to see the Dragon Warrior prepare their meal for them. Mr. Ping couldn't have asked for a better son._

_Po finally reached the shop, and walked into the kitchen to a waiting owner and employee, none other than Mr. Ping the duck. How a duck could be a panda's father was anyone's guess. "Ah, here comes the Dragon Warrior himself." Mr. Ping said as he gave to Po an apron for him to wear during work hours. Ever since the events of five months prior, Po's dad had gained more respect for his son's dedication towards the art of Kung Fu. Po smiled back at his father and said while remembering his short but upbeat trip from the Jade Palace to the shop, "Hey dad. I'm feeling great today. So let's get to it!"_

_Mr. Ping's smile widened, "That's my boy! Now get to those noodles." Po complied and immediately turned his attention and focus on a pot with hot water already boiling._

_After about an hour and a half of making and serving noodles to the customers, the panda heard young laughter coming from outside of the shop. He looked up after serving a bowl of noodles to a waiting patron and saw several children playing with a ball. They were kicking it around, passing it around to each other, and having a good time. Po smiled at the sight, knowing that the place they live in was called The Valley of Peace for a good reason._

_Suddenly, an expression stating that someone has just come up with a great idea has come upon the bear's face. His eyes widened at the realization. Before he could focus on this new thought any further, he snapped back into reality; knowing that he should focus on what's he's doing right now. One of several things he's learned from Master Shifu was that it's important to focus on what's really important before focusing on other minor issues._

_Finally, after two more hours of hard work at the shop, the time came for him to return to the Jade Palace. After saying goodbye to Mr. Ping, he rushed back to the palace. As always, he took a bit of a breather after reaching the top of the incredibly high number of steps. After regaining his composure, he made his way to his room and grabbed a several pieces of paper, a small brush, and a small container of ink._

_He needed a good place to write on. He went over to the table in the kitchen, sat down in one of the chairs, and got to writing. He clearly had a major brain storm back at the shop; and he had to write it down before he could lose any memory of it. At times, he would stop writing, grumble with slight annoyance in his voice, and crumple the piece of paper he was writing on, set it aside, and started to write on a new piece of paper._

_After about forty-five minutes of writing, Monkey came into the kitchen to see if anyone has stolen any of his almond cookies from the shelf. He thought it was one person going for the treats, but in reality, pretty much everyone snaked one or several every now and then. Mantis, Viper, Crane, and Po have on at least one occasion taken a cookie from the jar. One time, Po and Crane could have sworn they saw a brief glimpse of Tigress going after the jar. When they asked her about it, she obviously denied it. They all had to admit, Monkey knew where to get great almond cookies._

_Monkey was just about to start his climb to the top shelf when he noticed Po writing something. He came over to Po and asked, "Hey, what are you writing there?" Po flinched and gasped at the sudden voice coming from behind him. He was so focused on his idea, that he didn't notice Monkey enter the room. The inspiration he had in mind was going to be a surprise for his friends. He quickly tried to cover it up while saying nervously, "Uh… nothing it's- uh- nothing for you to worry about!" Monkey looked at him puzzled, "Well, if it's nothing for me to worry about, why are you trying to hide it from me?" Po's eyes darted back and forth, trying desperately to come up with a reasonable excuse. Finally, he answered, "It's for a new diary. My-uh- old one… I accidentally dropped it into a puddle- and uh… so I'm working on a new one!" He smiled sheepishly. Monkey stared at him for a few seconds, then shrugged and left the kitchen, forgetting about his cookie dilemma for today._

_Po sighed in relief, knowing his secret was safe._

**TWO DAYS LATER**

_Po had scouted for a suitable location for his latest project the day before; and he found a large flat area near the palace that was perfect for his needs. Today, he was going to assemble what were going to be the "goal posts." He had gathered several large branches from the trees in the forest, some fishing nets and a small yellow ball he bought from the village, and he brought a hammer and a small pouch of nails._

_He grabbed a hammer, three nails, and two of the branches. "Alright, let's get to the main event…" He said to himself as he lined up a nail on a branch. Po brought the hammer down onto the nail, but instead of hitting that, he wound up accidentally hitting his thumb, really hard. His pupils went wide, and he let out a loud shout of pain. He grabbed his thumb and he continued to groan in excruciating pain. Not exactly a great start to a big task._

_He eventually got over the extremely uncomfortable part of the aftershock of a hammer hitting his thumb, and got back to work; even though he knew his thumb was going to be numb for quite some time. He became more careful and precise with his hammering, and he worked for the rest of the day on his two goal posts. After piecing the branches together, he took the fishing nets and tied them to the edge of the branches, making sure that they would make a large, basket like appearance when they were done._

_He finally planted them into the ground, one at each end of the field. Po then grabbed the ball and walked about ten yards away from the nearest goal. Now was the time to test out his goal posts. Po then said to himself, "Alright you goal post, get ready to feel the thunder!" He wound up, and threw the ball with as much force as he could put into it. The ball flew right into the net. Just as he began to do a victory dance, the ball rebounded and flew right back into his face, knocking him flat onto the ground._

_Po groaned as he slowly got back onto his feet. "I think I have officially run out of ways to say the word 'ow.'" He loosened up the nets on both posts, grabbed the ball, and got back to his throwing position. Just after he threw it a second time, he ducked, just in case if the ball was up for round two with his face. The rematch never came, as the ball went into the net, and stayed there this time._

_Po was overwhelmed with the success of a major part of his experiment. He leapt into the air yelling, "YAHOOOOOO!!!!!"_

**FOUR DAYS LATER**

_Po walked back to the flat area to put the final touches to his undertaking. In the four days that passed since he tested the goal posts, he used a saw to cut down several trees. He seriously wished he could have used the Sword of Heroes, it would've made that part a whole lot easier. But he opted not to do that, for it is said that the blade is so sharp that one could cut himself or herself just by looking at it. He remembered his first day at the Jade Palace when that actually happened to Po._

_After cutting down four trees, he used the saw again to cut them into smaller, varied sizes. Out of the thirteen total pieces: eight of them were roughly six feet tall, four of them were ten feet tall, and the longest piece, standing right in the middle of the field, stood at fifteen feet._

_The small ones were divided into four pieces per side of the field, with two groups of two right next to each other and facing opposite from the other group. In between each group on both sides stood one medium sized piece. And to the each side of the longest piece stood the last two medium pieces._

_That task was physically exhausting for the panda; he would take a break every now and them from aligning them into the correct position. Right now however, he was motivated; for he was setting up the last piece. He tied a rope onto the top of the tree piece, and he would pull it skyward. It was set so that it would fall into a deep hole he dug, thus keeping it skyward._

_Once it was in position, he packed the dirt around it to stabilize the piece. With that done, he went over to each goal post and tied two banners on each one. One had two red banners, the other with blue banners. "Now for the cherry on top…" He said to himself as he grabbed the ball and walked over to get a ladder. He used the ladder to climb up to the top of the tallest pole, and he placed the ball right on top of it. Po slid down the ladder and took it down. Finally, he walked back far enough for him to get a complete view of the redefined field. He smiled to him self as he saw what he had finally completed._

"_Oh yeah!" He cheered to himself, "Now I can get the others; wait 'till they see this!" With that, he ran off to the Jade Palace. When he got back there, he saw that no one was in either the Hall of Warriors or the Training Area; which left one place to check: The Student Quarters. He ran inside and after rounding a couple of corners, he heard the Furious Five talking from the kitchen. Po ran into the doorway._

"_HEY GUYS!!!"_

**RIGHT NOW**

"…which brings us to where we are now." Po concluded.

The Furious Five looked at him in absolute disbelief. They were all thinking of pretty much the same thing. _HE actually built all this?!_

Monkey broke the silence, "So… this is supposed to be some kind of… game?" Po nodded and pulled out a sheet of paper from the pocket of his pants. He flipped it open and said, "I wouldn't be able to remember it from the top of my head so uh…" He cleared his throat and read from the paper.

"The goal of this game is for one team to get more points than the other team. For all six of us, it would have to be split into three people per team. The only way we can score a point is to get that ball-" he pointed to the ball, "- into the other team's goal. And the defenders have to… well... Prevent that from happening."

Before Po could continue, Tigress cut in; "Po, while I'm sure what you've built here must've taken you quite some time, we're not children we're Kung Fu masters. We don't have the time to play-" Po held up a hand and said, "Can I please finish?" Tigress said nothing, but allowed him to continue.

"But you did illustrate the real kicker of this game Tigress. We have to do whatever it takes to get the ball from the other team, throw it into their goal, and defend your own. And like you just said, we're **Kung Fu **masters…" He finished with a smug grin on his face.

It took about ten seconds for Tigress to see just what Po meant when he put emphasis on the words "Kung" and "Fu." Then her eyes, along with everyone else's, widened in realization:

They had to use whatever Kung Fu skills they have on them to play the game.

Po then added, "And just because you guys are my closest friends, I'll let you guys pick the teams for the first game we'll ever play." Everyone couldn't believe what the panda said; but Crane then said, "Could you excuse us for just a second?" Po nodded, and the Furious Five all huddled together to discuss everything they had just seen and heard.

"Well, what do you guys think we should do?" Crane asked.

Mantis replied, "I say we should do it! If Po said we could pick the teams…"

Viper said, "Yeah, and Po did put a lot of effort and thought into building all of this, just for us."

Monkey added to the group discussion, "It sure looks like a good change of pace from the usual training at the Training Area.

Crane then said, "Well, if you guys are up to it, then count me in."

Everyone then turned to look at Tigress, who had been silent the whole time. She paused for a few seconds, then sighed and said, "Alright fine, I guess I can give it a shot and see how it goes."

Viper looked back at Po and said before going back towards everyone else to discuss teams. "Po, just so you know, we all agree to play this game with you." As she turned back to the group, Po leapt into the air with his fists raised high.

"YEAH!!!!!" He yelled.

After about two minutes of talking it over, they all finally agreed to the teams:

Red Team would consist of: Tigress, Mantis, and Monkey.

While Blue Team would have: Po, Viper, and Crane.

After they told Po how the teams were going to work, they were just about to head over to the field to get their first game going when Crane suddenly asked, "Wait a second. Po, just what is this game called anyway?"

Po stopped right in his tracks. He then sheepishly turned to the others and said, "You know what? I never really thought about a name until right now." They all needed to come up with a name as quickly as possible. Everyone agreed that "Use Kung Fu to Get the Ball Into the Other Team's Goal" was too long to say in a conversation.

After much debate between all six Kung Fu masters, Viper finally suggested, "Hey, what about 'Fury Ball?'" Everyone else thought about it for a quick second, and then all nodded, which was a very good sign.

Mantis said, "Yeah, that's got a ring to it!"

**A/N: Wow, finally done with the second chapter. This one took me about four hours to write. It's not exactly an easy task, but a whole bottle of Mountain Dew, some Oreos, and an apple really helps. Now then:**

**Will Po's game succeed? Which team will win the first game of Fury Ball? Stay tuned to find out! In the meantime… REVIEW!!!!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Both Red and Blue teams walked over to their respective sides of the field. Of the six masters of Kung Fu, only five of them seemed eager to give Po's experimental game a try. Only the female tiger warrior had some doubts about the whole thing, but figuring that everyone else would just yell at her later on, she decided to give it a shot and get it over with. Po on the other hand was the most excited; but at the same time a little nervous. He was hoping, no- praying that his game would be a success for himself and the Furious Five.

The bear, bird, snake, insect, primate, and feline all got into their starting positions, and they waited for Po's signal to start the first ever game of Fury Ball. After thirty nerve-wracking seconds, the panda finally screamed, "BEGIN!" Everyone immediately rushed for the yellow ball, Crane took flight and tried to fly up to the ball so he can grab it with his talons. Tigress saw this and kicked the post the ball rested on. Right before Crane could grab it, the ball fell off it's perch and it fell into Tigress' arms. Po and Viper started to close in on the tiger, who then leapt onto the side of the post and propelled herself off of it, heading towards the Blue goal.

She then threw the ball into the goal: One point for the Red Team. Po, Viper, and Crane stared at what just transpired in surprise and disbelief. Tigress grinned to herself as she calmly walked back over to her side of the field, where she was met with cheers from Monkey and Mantis. For Blue team, getting scored on in the very beginning of a game isn't exactly the best start to a competition. After five more seconds of stunned silence, Crane flew down to the bear and serpent and told his two teammates to huddle, and so they did.

For the first three seconds, no one said anything. Finally, Crane spoke up with slight anger in his voice. "Okay… what the Hell just happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened. We just got totally owned back there; that's what happened! By the gods, who was guarding the goal?!" Po yelled as he turned to Viper.

Viper snapped back at the two males, "Hey, don't either of you look at me like that! It's not my fault we got scored on!" She turned to Po, "And about that, we never really did establish who was the goal blocker now did we?"

Po paused, then said, "Well… no we didn't."

"Well, gee wiz, that's funny…" Crane said with sarcasm in his tone, "It's surprising coming from you; considering the fact that YOU CAME UP WITH THIS GAME IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!"

Po angrily turned towards the avian, "Don't blame this on me! I figured you guys would've figured that out by now! And I didn't think it would get this competitive. You guys make **everything** a huge competition!"

Viper yelled back at him, "Well I got news for you boys: This **is **acompetition!"

That sentence was all it took for Po, Crane, and Viper to start yelling at each other in unison. Red team was now starting to get impatient, Mantis yelled at them, "Hey! Are we gonna keep beating you guys, or are we just gonna sit here and wait for when you guys start ripping each other's heads off?"

The three Blues heard this, all sighed in unison, and Po spoke up. "Okay guys, arguing with each other isn't going to help us get revenge on the Reds. We need a strategy here." Crane and Viper nodded in agreement, and they all together came up with a plan of action. The Red team watched as they all whispered to each other for twenty more seconds. Finally, all three members of Blue team yelled "Break!" and walked back to their starting positions. Crane however took the time to fly the ball back up to the top of the post.

Crane flew back to join his team mates; he nodded to each of them, who returned the favor. Tigress, Monkey, and Mantis have also gotten back into their positions; shortly after, Po gave the signal for the game to start up again. While the Red team again rushed for the ball, the Blue team took a different approach. Po and Viper went in for the center of the field, while Crane stayed near their goal, grabbing his hat with one of his wings and making sure it was secure on his head. Whatever it was that he, Po, and Viper just went over, he needed to be ready for it.

It seemed as if Tigress was going to once again get the ball first, when much to her surprise, along with Mantis' and Monkey's, Po managed to somehow climb up the post with relative ease.

**FOURTY FIVE SECONDS EARLIER…**

"_Po, tell me: During your fight with Tai Lung, how were you able to keep the Dragon Scroll away from him?" Viper asked._

_Po groaned annoyingly, "I told you guys a million times already! I had to throw pots at him, used noodles, fireworks; and there was this one part where I had to imagine that it was a bowl of-"_ _he paused, then grinned deviously at the serpent and bird, who also did the same thing._

**RIGHT NOW…**

Po saw the ball as a giant dumpling, and it motivated him to get up to it. He finally reached the top of the post and grabbed the ball in triumph. He then looked down on Tigress, who for a full ten seconds stared in absolute aw at what she's seen. _"Wow," _she thought to herself, _"I really hate to admit it; but he's actually getting better at this. I've gotta know how he does it." _But positive thoughts on the bear were interrupted when she saw that he was now taunting her by sticking out his palm and gave her the "come and get it" sign; all while having a cocky look on his face. Tigress gritted her teeth and leapt high up onto the pole right next to the center one; where she then leapt towards Po. The second he saw this, he was pretty surprised, and tried to then get off of the pole, but it was too late; she kicked him off, letting go of the ball in the process. Po fell to the ground with a thud, and he looked back up towards the center pole. Tigress threw the ball with all of her might towards the goal, which seemed to be once again unattended. She grinned as the ball closed in, but was then shocked to what the happened in the next eight seconds.

Crane swooped in right at the last second in front of the goal and deflected the ball with one of his large wings. It was particularly easy for him to do, considering that the Crane style of Kung Fu focused mainly on the deflection of blows delivered by an opponent. The ball flew right towards Viper, who grabbed the ball with her long tail, and she flung the ball towards the Red goal with incredible speed. Monkey and Mantis never saw it coming, and it flew right into their goal. The score was now tied.

Po got to his feet, jumped into the air with his fists raised his above his head and yelled, "YEAH!!!" Crane shouted at Viper, "Nice shot Viper!" She looked back at Po and Crane and said, "Well, I couldn't have done it without you guys!" It became clear to Tigress, Mantis, and Monkey that Tigress stealing the ball from Po was all part of the Blue team's plan the whole time. They wanted the ball to fly towards the goal. It also seemed clear that Crane was made the goal guard when on the defensive. It seemed like a perfect choice, not only for his style of Kung Fu, but also his large wing span. Po and Viper rushed over to Crane, where they all turned to see the Red team's stunned reaction.

"That'll teach you guys **not **to mess with the **Blue team**!" Po yelled, followed by laughter from Viper and Crane. Mantis and Monkey glared angrily at the Blues, while Tigress gritted her teeth so hard, they could've snapped off of her jaw. She stormed back over to her team mates and it was their turn to huddle up. However, she noticed that Monkey and Mantis were both glaring furiously at her.

"…What?" Tigress asked with a low tone.

Mantis replied, "Nice job kitty. You just had to fall for that one."

Tigress yelled, "Hey! It's not like you could've known they were going to do that! And besides, I don't see either one of you guys putting in any effort out there!"

Monkey shouted in return, "Well… that's because you wouldn't let us do anything. You never passed the ball to either one of us! Damn, it seems like you have problems with team work."

Tigress' eyes widened at that statement, "Excuse me? Are you forgetting our fight at the Thread of Hope against Tai Lung? We worked perfectly as a team there! Well… until he used his nerve attack on us." She then sighed and said, "You guys are right, we need to come together to show these guys who the real champions are."

Mantis replied, "Damn straight! We're gonna give these guys a bad case of the Reds!"

Monkey and Tigress glared awkwardly at Mantis, who both then said, "…What?"

Mantis tried to explain, "You know, it's like getting a bad case of the blues; but instead of 'blue' I said 'red.' Get it?" He chuckled nervously. Tigress and Monkey groaned and rolled their eyes. Mantis was a skilled warrior, but he was horrible at coming up with jokes or puns.

"Don't ever say that again." Tigress said. Mantis slowly nodded. "Now let's come up with something here…" Tigress, Mantis, and Monkey all went over their plan on how to get back at the Blues; whom were all waiting for them to wrap things up.

Viper broke the silence, "Hey, what are you guys waiting for? We're waiting to start our 'totally gonna beat you guys' spree here!" Finally, Red team yelled, "Break!" and everyone once again got into their starting positions after Crane reset the ball. When the signal was given for the game to start up once more, only Mantis and Tigress went after the ball, while Viper and Po did the same thing.

Once getting close to the pole to their right of the center pole, Tigress nodded to Mantis, who then leapt onto her shoulder; and she in turn leapt onto the right pole. Po used his previous tactic to get up onto the left pole, unaware of where Mantis was. This time, Tigress beat Po to the ball, and just as Po jumped towards Tigress to intercept her, the ball suddenly flew right out of her hands. Po was in mid air as it happened, and he now couldn't stop flying towards the middle pole. Tigress smiled in delight of the Red team's plan, when she suddenly realized that Po managed to jump higher than she thought he would; he was now flying right for her, and there was no time for her to dodge.

"_Oh man… this is gonna hurt." _They both thought at the same time. A second later, Po collided with Tigress with tremendous force and they both fell to the ground next to each other, hard. Five seconds later they both said in unison, "…Ow…"

Unaware of what had just happened to the two opposing team members, Mantis had the ball held up on one of his pincers and was heading right for the goal. Viper was just about to intercept Mantis when two large feet grabbed her body and flung her away from Mantis. It was none other than Monkey, who stayed away from the action in order to get into a strategic position. Crane meanwhile was more than ready for Mantis to throw the ball towards the goal.

At that moment Mantis threw the ball, but on the contrary to Crane's predicted thought, the ball flew right for Monkey, who had since dealing with Viper, used his athletic skills to climb up to a pole near the Blue goal. He grabbed the ball and threw it into the goal, and Crane wasn't in position to block it this time. Now Red team was in the lead again.

"Yes!" Monkey shouted as he landed next to Mantis who yelled, "BOO-YAH!!!" They both laughed and cheered much to Viper's and Crane's stunned reactions. The primate and insect duo made their way over to Tigress, whom was recovering from her unexpected collision with a large flying bear.

"Ugh… what happened?" the feline asked wearily as she got up; as did Po, who was rubbing his temple. Mantis and Monkey excitedly shouted, "It worked!" By some miracle, the pain Tigress was in was now gone, and her eyes widened. "You mean…?" They both nodded, and her face turned into a big smile.

She bolted up and gave Monkey a high-five. She would've gave Mantis one to, but his pincers were a little small for a high-five. They all laughed and bragged about their plan as they walked back to their side of the field. Po and Viper wearily made their way towards a stunned Crane. They were all bemused at what the Reds managed to pull off. Their bemused faces were then replaced by absolute annoyance and agitation. Po then looked over to the Red side of the field, and saw that while they were too busy talking about what they successfully pulled off, he noticed that the Red goal was wide open.

An idea sparked in Po's mind. He turned to his team mates, whom have apparently saw the same thing he saw. Crane, Viper, and Po all glanced at each other, then all smiled mischievously. They all knew what Po had in mind. Crane took the ball from their goal and gave it to Viper. She flung the ball up in the air; as it was airborne, Po decided that it was time for him to do something he's done during his fight with Tai Lung:

He threw his gut back and braced his feet as though they were nailed to the ground. As the ball came back down to Po, he then threw his gut out with great force, and it hit the ball right on target. The ball flew at tremendous velocity towards the Red goal, and it went right into it. The Reds immediately stopped bragging about their recent play, and all turned to see that the ball was now in their goal. Tigress, Mantis, and Monkey were all left speechless, their eyes widened, and their jaws fell as loose as they possibly could. Then all at once, they turned slowly to the Blue side of the field, only to see Po, Viper, and Crane smiling smugly at them, with Po waving slowly at them.

That was the final straw. All at once, the faces on Po, Tigress, Viper, Mantis, Crane, and Monkey went into absolute dead serious. The two sides now stared at each other like that for a full minute before Tigress finally spoke up.

"So **that's **how it's going to be…"

Po replied, "Yes. Yes it is, my friend…" It was clear now:

_**THINGS HAVE JUST GOTTEN TO THE POINT OF NO RETURN**_

**A/N: Oh it's on now…! Review! And state who you believe is going to win!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Without a moment to spare, Monkey snatched the ball from the Red Team's net and hurled it upward and towards the Blue net. Tigress jumped onto the nearest pole and began to work her way as fast as she could towards the flying projectile. The Blue team went right into the action; this time however, Viper and Crane went into the field while Po hung back to defend their goal.

Seeing that Viper and Crane were going after Tigress, with the bird going after her in the air and the serpent sticking to the ground in case her team mate missed his mark, Mantis quite literally sprang into action. He jumped onto the side of the nearest pole and bounced off to the side of another one. To him, this was no different than practicing on the wooden dummies in the Training Hall. After leaping onto the sides of several more poles, he vaulted himself towards Viper, and tackled her to the ground. After recovering from the collision, Viper hissed angrily at the insect and they both began to fight each other.

Tigress meanwhile has finally grabbed the mid-air sphere, but her brief success was silenced by a hard kick to her abdomen by a large bird wearing a straw hat. The sudden shock of Crane's blow caused the striped feline to drop the ball, and it was heading right towards the large panda. The Dragon Warrior took wind of this, and frantically tried to get into a good position to grab the rapidly approaching ball. Just as it came inches from the tip of his fingers, Monkey gave him a kick to his side, shoving him away from where he once was. The primate grabbed the ball from right out of the air, and rushed towards the Blue goal. It seemed like no one would stop the Red team from getting another point; well… except for a certain female snake.

Noticing that Po nor Crane were going to get to Monkey in time, Viper shoved Mantis off of her yelling, "We'll finish this later!" and slithered as fast as she possibly could over to the ball carrier. Upon catching up to him, she coiled her body around Monkey's upper half. Her own upper half was wrapped around Monkey's left arm, while her lower half wrapped around his right arm and fist. She first made Monkey drop the ball to the ground, then proceeded to make Monkey hit himself by pulling his right fist into his own face.

It was a tactic she employed not only during her (and the rest of the Five's) fight against Tai Lung at the Thread of Hope; but also in a fight back when she was a child. Viper was born without fangs. This made her father, the Great Master Viper, very depressed; for his special fighting technique involved using his poisonous fangs to incapacitate an opponent. Desperate to make her father happy, Viper took up ribbon dancing. Eventually she bloomed into the best ribbon dancer in her village. One night, during the annual Moon Festival, an armored gorilla bandit attacked the village. And to make matters worse, Great Master Viper's poison fang technique wasn't strong enough to stop him. Seeing that her father was in trouble, she rushed down to the village and used what she came to call "deceptive dancing" to defeat the bandit.

Back during the increasingly heated match between the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior, Viper was still busy making Monkey getting pulverized by… his own fist. He had to find a way to stop one of Viper's signature fighting moves fast. Realizing that the rest of her body was behind his neck, Monkey did something very drastic: He backed into the nearest wooden pole, slamming Viper's body into it. She yelled in pain, and the blow briefly stunned her; long enough for Monkey to grab her and throw her off of him. Both opponents were now slowly recovering from each other's attacks. Viper's middle part of her body felt like a boulder just got thrown onto it; and Monkey felt incredibly dizzy and bruised. He felt a small trace of blood leaving from his mouth. Let's face it, getting slammed into a large piece of wood and then getting thrown several feet, and getting punched hard in the face (by one's own fist) repeatedly, were nothing that one can recover from in no time flat.

As for the ball, during Viper and Monkey's brawl, Crane took the initiative and grabbed the it with one of his talons. Not too long after flying toward the Red Team's goal, a shadow cast a figure over him. He looked up and saw Tigress' foot slamming him in the back of his head, making him both let go of the ball and fall to the ground. As the tiger grabbed the now loosed ball, she yelled at stunned bird, "KING ME!" in a little personal revenge for her loss during their game of Checkers. She landed perfectly on one of the poles and she shouted at the insect, "Mantis, keep Crane busy!" He nodded and went after the avian.

Tigress began to hop from one pole to another, making her way to the Blue's net. But without warning, shortly after she landed on a pole, it violently shook and she slipped. Tigress re-aligned herself in time to land on the ground, only to see a flurry of large, black fists coming right at her. She dropped the ball and began to defend herself from her newest, and unexpected opponent: Po.

Finally, she leapt back several feet and glared angrily towards the panda, who had a stern look on his face. She angrily yelled at him, "You know, I really don't know why you had to leap at me like that earlier!"

Po was taken back by her statement; but he gave his rebuttal, "Excuse me? What did you expect me to do? We're playing a game where we have to go after the **ball!" **

"YOU SLAMMED ME INTO THE GROUND!" She shouted.

"You could've dodged that!" He yelled back.

"I didn't have time!"

"That's because you were too busy priding yourself because of a simple move you did with Mantis!"

"And how the Hell was I supposed to know you were going to leap that high?!"

"Oh gee wiz," Po said sarcastically, "maybe it's because you forgot that in combat, we have to be ready for anything. Amazing; I've been truly studying Kung Fu for only several months, and I have to remind someone who's been doing this for **YEARS.**" Po finished with a cocky smirk.

Tigress' eyes bolted open, then turned into absolute hatred. She growled as she began to attack Po. Both the tiger and the bear launched a steady stream of punches, kicks, and deflections at each other, forgetting about the ball and the game completely. Yet what surprised the master of the Tiger Style of Kung Fu was how the Dragon Warrior was actually becoming an equal to herself in basic combat.

"_I- I don't believe it!" _Tigress thought, _"He's really dedicated to mastering the Thousand Scrolls. Maybe, just maybe- __**NO! **__THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I AM GOING TO LOSE TO ANYONE; ESPECIALLY TO A PANDA!!!!!"_

She unleashed a fire storm of punches, jabs, and kicks towards Po, whom was now doing everything he can to deflect or block them all. However, after about thirty more seconds of this, both Po and Tigress realized that the ball is sitting only feet from them. Po tried to make a run for it, but Tigress tripped him, thus making him fall down. But when Tigress went after it, Po did something rather unexpected: He grabbed Tigress' tail and yanked it down, pulling her down with it. Po smirked a little, all of this reminded him of that dumpling duel he had with Master Shifu; when he was being trained to be the Dragon Warrior.

With both Kung Fu masters on the ground, they were both clawing their way to the ball; pulling each other back and shoving each others faces along the way. Tigress eventually gets a jab on Po's side, causing him to flinch. This gave the few seconds Tigress needed to grab the ball and get back on her-

Viper then came out of no where and grabbed the ball with her long tail, then made a bee line for the goal. This really irritated Tigress, she got to her feet and was about to hunt the snake down… When Po got to his feet as well, took Tigress' arm, and threw her across the field and into a pole with tremendous force. It caused the whole pole to crack and fall down. Po yelled after Viper, "JUST KEEP GOING VIPER!!!"

Not looking back, the serpent kept going after the Red goal. But her eyes caught a small and green figure bouncing off the posts and heading right for her. It was Mantis, going for his "tackle the snake to the ground" move again.

"Viper! I'm open!" She heard Crane yell from above. Knowing that he would catch it, Viper immediately hurled it upward, where the bird did indeed grab onto it. Viper then turned to the fast approaching insect, and ducks her head just in time for Mantis to fly right over her. She turns back to him and smugly says, "Now, we can finish it." And just like that, they're fighting each other again.

Monkey however has also recovered from his previous brawl in time to see Viper pass the ball to Crane. Thinking quickly, he leaps on top of a pole, and hops to every other one, getting closer and closer to the bird warrior. When he finally got close enough, jumped upward and grabbed onto the ball. Then, concentrating all of his weight into himself, he drags himself, the ball, and Crane into the ground. Both of Monkey's paws and Crane's talons had a death grip on the ball. Realizing this, they began to pull with all of their might, fighting for the ball. Monkey wrapped his long tail around a pole that was close to him and used it to make him pull harder. Crane meanwhile flapped his wings at an incredibly fast rate, also making him pull harder.

At long last, the ball snapped from both of their grips, causing them both to fly backwards. As for the ball, ironically enough, it landed right between all six Kung Fu Masters. It was as though they were all in a semi-circle, and the ball was right in the middle. Without thinking it over; Po, Tigress, Crane, Monkey, Viper, and Mantis screamed at the top of their lungs as they all rushed as fast as they could towards the ball. Po's eyes suddenly widened with realization.

"**STOP!!!!!"**

Everyone was surprised at his sudden outburst, and came to a screeching halt, only inches from the ball. While for one thing Po had just prevented what could have been quite a painful six-way collision, Everyone began protesting at the same time.

"What?!"

"Oh come on Po!"

"What the Hell?!"

"It was just getting good!"

"What's the big idea?!"

Po flinched on hearing the Furious Five yell at him all at once. After regaining whatever composure he had, he replied, "I just realized something!" He paused, seeing that everyone was now intently, but angrily, listening to him. "Has anyone been keeping score? 'Cause I wasn't."

Slowly, every other Master realized that he was right. They were all so focused on just grabbing the ball, no one knew who was winning or losing. All six of them looked at each other and themselves, everyone had cuts, dirt, and bruises all over them. It seemed as if they were also focused on simply beating the crap out of each other. All around them were many holes in the dirt, most if not all of the poles had damage on them; in fact, one of them had toppled over completely.

Then it happened. Monkey gave off a very small chuckle, but it eventually grew into a bigger one. Then as if in a domino effect, he was joined by Mantis, Crane, Viper, and Po. Tigress meanwhile just couldn't hold it in any longer. She burst out into laughter, followed by everyone else. Everyone was thinking the exact same thing: They were all beating the living daylights out of each other in the middle of no where over a small, yellow ball for the past hour.

Crane meanwhile thought to himself as he laughed, _"Just wait until Mei Ling comes to the Jade Palace again. The first thing I'm gonna do is get her to play this game."_

A long time before Crane began to train at the Jade Palace, he was a lowly janitor at the Li Dai Kung Fu Academy. He was also shoved around and picked on frequently by most of the students who trained there. But what they didn't know was that during the night shift, he was actually quite acrobatic when he went around cleaning the entire site. One night, one of the academy's top students, a mountain cat named Mei Ling, saw him in action. She was absolutely blown away by Crane's skill, just by being a janitor! Mei Ling encouraged Crane to try out for Li Dai.

The day of the try outs finally came. But when everyone saw that Crane wanted to give the obstacle course a shot, everyone but Mei Ling laughed and made fun of him. However, their mockery was cut short when he accidentally stepped into the course; which was described as "simple, but impossible." All one had to do was retrieve a flag from within the academy; the problem was that the course was loaded with traps, and up to that point, no one has succeeded. When the head instructor told him to slowly walk out of it, Crane didn't move. He suddenly had the confidence, along with Mei Ling's emotional support, to complete the course. Upon completing it, he was accepted into the academy. Crane and Mei Ling have been best friends ever since that day.

Back to the present, everyone was still laughing in embarrassment about what they have just been doing. Their laughter was cut short by an "A-HEM." coming from behind all of them. The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior froze, they all knew who's voice it was. They all slowly turned around wide eyed, and saw the new figure that was standing before them. It was a small, red panda wearing a large, orange-brown robe.

It was none other than Master Shifu.

Everyone thought the same thing again, _"Oh crap."_

**A/N: Gasp! Plot twist ahoy captain! Now review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

To quote what Zeng, the Jade Palace messenger, once said during his near fatal trip to Chom Grom prison: _"We are dead. So. Very. Dead."_

Those words were running through the Five and the Dragon Warrior's minds as they stood in attention and dared not to say a word. Their game has just been cut short by their master's unexpected arrival. The red panda known by many as Shifu locked eyes with each of his students, one at a time, before gazing at the once tranquil open field. Now the field was riddled with holes in the dirt, accompanied with broken wood from the various poles set up in the area.

As for Master Shifu's students, they all had dirt, bruises, and cuts all over their bodies. Crane had a particularly nasty looking bruise on the back of his head from when he got kicked by Tigress; and Monkey had a black eye from being punched in the face by his own fist, courtesy from Viper's signature move. Speaking of the reptile, her make-up was smeared, and she had a big bruise along the middle part of her body.

Everyone was absolutely silent, Shifu was thinking of what to say to the six masters; while they on the other hand waited anxiously and nervously to whatever it was he was going to say to them. Was he going to scold all of them for wasting time out in a field? Would he make them run the training course one hundred times in a row? Would he make them do all of the Palace's servants' chores for a whole year? They were about to find out.

Finally, Shifu asked, "In case if any of you were wondering, Zeng and several of the palace servants told me that they've seen all of you walk off in this direction. It didn't take me long to hear Po talking about something. What exactly is this supposed to be?" Everyone started speaking, or yelling to be more accurately, in unison;

"It was Po's idea!"

"Oh gee, thanks for the support!"

"This isn't what it looks like!"

"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!

"I didn't think it would be a big deal!"

"We can explain!"

For ten more seconds, the Furious Five and Po were either arguing with each other or trying to come up with a reasonable excuse to say to Master Shifu; with poor results. Taking a deep sigh, Shifu held up his palm and yelled, "Quiet!" Everyone immediately shut their mouths.

"Now, will **one of you**, please tell me what all this is supposed to be. **As calmly as possible.**" He asked as he lowered his palm. The six students' eyes went left and right, each asking each other telepathically who's gonna break the news to Shifu. Unfortunately, it really didn't matter to them; because one way or another, there was going to be Hell to pay for their little game. Finally, Po took a very deep sigh and stepped forward to his master. He cleared his throat confessed.

"Master Shifu, it was me. This whole thing was my idea to begin with. You know all those times I was going to this area behind the palace? Well, this is what I've been working on. I thought that this game would help me and everyone else improve our kung fu skills. And I convinced them to play it with me. If anyone's gonna get punished here, it should be me; not them. I'm sorry Master."

He lowered his eyes and awaited Shifu's response. The Furious Five, including Tigress, were all taken back at what the panda just did for them. He was going to take the fall for their unwarranted competition. Master Shifu meanwhile was pondering briefly at Po's quick explanation. Finally, he meet the Dragon Warrior's gaze.

"Dragon Warrior, I've been watching all of you for quite some time. I have to say, I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like this in all my years in kung fu…" Shifu trailed off, before being interrupted by Po.

"Listen Master; I'm really, REALLY, sorry about all this. I swear, I will take whatever punishment you give me! Do a thousand laps around the Valley, clean the bathhouses for a year, run the obstacle course ten times **blindfolded**, do everyone's chores for-"

Master Shifu patiently said to Po, "Po, you're not listening to me…" The panda's eyes raised up slightly higher, curious as to what Shifu was trying to get through to him and the Five. "I said, 'I've been watching all of you for **quite some time**.'"

Po, along with the Five, took about twenty seconds to think about their master's words. Why would he put so much emphasis on "quite some time'? But it then suddenly hit them like a ton of bricks. Their eyes widened in realization. Just to confirm this, Po looked over at Shifu.

"You mean…?"

Shifu only nodded his head… and smiled slowly. That settled it… Master Shifu had not once tried to stop his six students them from playing their game.

The red panda then spoke, "Okay, I'll come clean: I was initially going to come out here and yell at all of you for doing this. But after about another minute of observing your… game, I began to something improving within all of you: Team work. These past several weeks, I've noticed that all of you seemed to be losing touch on working together as though you were a single unit. It seems as if Master Panda has took notice of this as well…"

Shifu glanced at Po, who smiled sheepishly, rubbed the back of his neck with one paw, and said, "Well… you could say that…"

Master Shifu continued his lecture, "And what you've done, Po, was something of great initiative. And for that I congratulate you for your contribution to the Jade Palace."

He then turned to the Furious Five, "And as for you, I do believe I speak for Master Panda when I say 'thank you.' If it wasn't for your commitment towards Po's idea of practice, I doubt any of you would've seen how important it is to function as one. Remember, all of you, that when in combat, one of the key weapons to defeating your opponent are your team mates. As long as all six of you stick together, you'll all come out on top, and be completely unstoppable."

With that, all six masters smiled at their master, and each other. They have inadvertently learned a valuable lesson simply by throwing a small, yellow ball around in a field.

Master Shifu then added, "Oh, and also, this also seems like a good change of pace from your usual sparring sessions and runs through the training course."

Monkey lightly chuckled at his master's latest comment. _Who called it?_

Shifu cleared his throat once more and said, "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to meditate. You may all continue with your game if you wish. And try to keep score this time…" The Five and the Dragon Warrior all laughed, then gave their master the kung fu salute and bowed. Shifu returned the salute and the bow, then turned to leave. But after taking a few steps, he looked back and asked, "By the way, what do you call this game?"

They all answered in unison, "Fury Ball."

Crane then added, "You can thank Viper for that one…" The serpent blushed lightly. Master Shifu smiled, then set off for the palace. Po turned around to face the Five, only to see that they were all now smiling at him.

Slightly puzzled, he asked, "Um, guys? Why are you all looking at me like that? Do I have something on me?"

Monkey shook his head and said, "No, it's because you really did something good today."

Crane added, "Yeah, you've really must have put a lot of thought into all of this… for us."

Viper continued, "But more importantly, you showed that you were willing to take the fall for us when we thought were going to get punished."

Mantis then joked with Po, "Yeah, not bad… for a new guy." Po started to lightly chuckle at the insect's comment when Tigress cut in.

"No."

Everyone looked at her in a confused way. Ignoring them, she walked up towards the panda. Took a deep sigh, and said, "It's not bad for _anyone_." And she smiled. Po beamed back at her.

Po then spoke up, "Okay then," as he clasped large, black paws together, "So whaddya say we go for 'first to three points?" Everyone else agreed to that and got back into their respective teams. Just as they began to make their way to their sides of the goal, Monkey then suggested something that would get everyone even more motivated to win.

"And how's about the losers, which means you guys," he said as he pointed to Blue Team, "have to clean up?"

Everyone cheered in approval. Viper then taunted, "Seem so sure that we'll lose huh?"

With the ball reset on top of the middle post. Po began the countdown.

"Ready…"

Everyone knew that now they all had something that was exhilarating, fill them with new tactics, and was downright fun to do. Fury Ball was going to be the future of Kung Fu training; at least for the warriors of the Jade Palace.

"…Set…"

But for right now, all they could focus on was doing their absolute best… just so they can watch happily as the losing team cleans up the even larger mess they were going to make.

"…GO!!!"

_**END**_

**A/N: I'm just so happy that I've finally completed my first Kung Fu Panda fic!**

**Now leave a review!**


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